Adjusting
by lefty21
Summary: Seth and Ryan start adjusting to the new distance between them as they discuss the different things on their minds after completing their first week at their new schools. SethRyan friendship.


AN: A short Seth/Ryan friendship piece that was on my mind. Not generally a writer of scenes for these two, so if it seems off that's why.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, but I don't think FOX does anymore either. So now I guess I'm worried about soapnet.

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"Hey, man," Ryan answered the phone as soon as he saw "Seth" flashing across the caller ID. 3000 miles between them and they were severely lacking in the Seth/Ryan time.

"Hey…" Seth answered back, not quite sure how to start their first conversation in over a week.

They'd been giving each other space; time to get adjusted. The first week at college was a hectic time where people were supposed to be branching and meeting new friends.

It was not a time to be spent talking on the phone with your best friend from high school. Even when said best friend was actually more like a brother. And that brother was the only one who could possibly understand the agony of being thousands of miles away from the one he loved all while trying to make a good impression and wake up for 8 AM classes five days a week.

"So how's Providence?"

"Oh, you know… different."

"How's the weather?"

"Weird. It's wet and kind of cold. It's like it's not even summer here."

"You hate summer. Remember, it was when the mini-Newpsies and water polo players were at their bests."

"I don't care. I'm from southern California. I need summer. It's an innate requirement. And this place is missing some key ingredients."

"Oh, you mean like the sun and the heat and _the girl_."

"Yeah, she might have something to do with this new dour outlook on Providence."

"You miss Summer."

"So? You miss Taylor."

"That I do."

Seth sighed as he leaned back against the wall that his new, extra long twin was pressed against. "Well at least Taylor's not on phone restriction and you can talk to her for more than five minutes once a week."

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, cause international calls are so cheap and I really want to give your parents a thousand dollar phone bill as my parting gift."

"Please, Ryan. Four years and you hardly took anything off of them. They won't get that mad."

"Well I'd like to avoid them getting mad at all, so I think Taylor and I'll just stick to email and our weekly phone conversations."

"So speaking of the fam, how are the Cohens anyway?"

"Why did you just refer to your family as the Cohens?"

"I don't know. I'm 3000 miles away. I feel disconnected. It just felt right."

"_Your Parents_ are fine. And Sophie is getting cuter by the day. And you talk to your mother like everyday. How do you feel disconnected?"

"Talking isn't the same as seeing. You can hide any number of things over a phone conversation. In person though, the truth always comes out."

"What would your parents possibly be hiding from you?"

"I don't know. You tell me. You're the one who sees them every day."

"Except I don't. I haven't seen them since I moved into the dorm last Saturday. I'm going for dinner tomorrow night, though."

"Ah… So are Julie and her clan still visiting at casa Cohen or have they meandered back to Newport yet."

"They left yesterday. Kaitlin starts school Monday so they had to keep the visit down to a week. And it's not a clan. There's only two of them."

"And baby makes three. And with the Bullit and the Frank waiting back in Newport like puppies who like to be kicked she's definitely got a little clan going."

"They're not her groupies, Seth. Bullit and my dad have moved on. They're all just friends who want to create the best environment for the baby."

"Speaking of that baby… have you thought about all the weirdness factors that surround it?"

Ryan sighed. How could he not have thought about some of those factors? Those thoughts had been taking up quite a bit of his time ever since he found out Frank was the real father of Julie's baby.

"Nope. Haven't thought about 'em at all. What weirdness factors?"

"Oh come on, man. Don't tell me they haven't crossed your mind?"

"That was my attempt at trying to avoid the conversation, Seth."

"What conversation? You mean the one about the fact that you're actually about to have a blood connection to Julie Cooper."

"Yeah, that one."

"On the bright side, she has gotten slightly less crazy over the years. Not quite as shallow or homicidal." Seth paused and then concluded with a nod, "She's mellowed."

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you'll have Kaitlin as a sister, who, despite her attitude, is an old soul just like me, so I find her quite charming."

"She has her moments."

Seth hesitated. "But I'm sure it's neither of those things that you've been thinking about the most…"

"Seth…" Ryan warned and pleaded at the same time.

"You're thinking that if this baby makes it so that Julie and Kaitlin Cooper are related to you, then…"

"Marissa would be too."

"Yep, pretty much what I was getting at."

"But does it really mean that Marissa and I are related?"

"Biologically? No. In a lot of other ways? Yes. You'll share the same little brother… by blood."

"Yeah, I realized that, Seth."

"This has been eating at you ever since Julie let it slip at her botched wedding attempt, hasn't it?"

"What? That the baby I thought was supposed to be a blessing in the aftermath of Marissa's death is suddenly an incestuous curse. No, this hasn't been fucking with my mind or grieving process at all."

Seth sat in silence taking in Ryan's sudden bout of anger. Though, in all fairness, Ryan certainly had a right to be angry. What would he do if by some crazy alt universe happening Sophie was the spawn of Doctor Roberts? Ew. Why did he even think about that?

Seth heard Ryan grunt and then sigh on the other end of the line, which brought his attention back to the conversation.

"I was in love with her. And as messed up and complicated as our relationship was a lot of the time that love was still kind of pure. Now it's just weird. Every time I think about her now I'm gonna think about how she's like my sister."

"Yeah, but she's not… like at all. It's just some messed up circumstances."

"And what's this kid gonna say when he sees pictures of his big brother and big sister dancing at prom or cuddling next to you and Summer? And he's going to find out I was there when she died. What if he asks why I didn't save her?"

"He would never ask that man. You did save her and you know that." Seth breathed and gave a moment for his words to settle then continued on a lighter not, "And anyway, since, technically this whole situation can be owed to Julie and Frank, I think the burden of the explanation should really be on them."

"Why can't anything ever just be simple?"

"Because you're Ryan Atwood, and you don't do simple. But look at it this way… so what if you and Marissa now share a little brother? It's not like you did before. And if other people want to perv about it and get freaked out then let them, because all the people who matter will know that the epic fairy tale that was Ryan and Marissa happened long before the comedy of errors that is your dad, Julie Cooper and their spawn."

"Just so you know, once this kid is born I'm gonna have to beat you up if you refer to my little brother as a spawn."

"Fair enough. So, you no what else this whole Julie having a baby thing got me thinking about?"

"Do I want to know?"

"Yes. I promise it's much less disturbing than my last thought."

"Okay."

"My parents just had a baby."

"Yes… I was there. I remember."

"And you're dad is about to have a new baby."

"Yep. I already knew that too."

"Well we're both almost twenty. The odds of people our age getting newborn siblings is just not high in itself, let alone all the other little connections these two kids are gonna have."

"And…?"

"And I think it's more than just a coincidence."

"Like fate?"

"Exactly. We are both welcoming new little Cohens and Atwoods into the world at virtually the same time. Coincidences like that just don't happen."

"So you're saying it was meant to be that my estranged dad knocked up Julie at the same time your loving parents got blessed with a second child after trying for years after you were born."

"Okay… way to be cynical. Just listen: Another Cohen and Atwood pair, brought together by the most unlikely of unlikely circumstances… It could be another epic friendship in the making. And while, like us, they aren't technically related by blood, perhaps over the years their bond will grow stronger until they too take their rightful place within the Cohen-Atwood family."

"That's very epic and comic-sounding of you, Seth."

"Yes, well… you know how I like to relate everything in my life to them."

"That I do."

"It's a nice thought, though, right?"

"Yeah, it's a nice thought. They'll be lucky if it ends up like that."

"'_Ends up like that_?' That sounds an awful lot like you're leaving it up to coincidence. What did I say about fate? These two little ones… they're meant for great things, Ryan."

"Yeah, yeah…" Ryan laughed, comfortable to be falling back into the Seth-Ryan banter of old.

"So listen… I think I should go. Summer's going to be calling any minute and it'll kind of suck if I miss my first chance to talk to her in a week because of a busy signal. Not to mention she'll be really pissed."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. We can talk tomorrow."

"Definitely. Now that we're all '_settled_', or whatever they like to call it, no more of this going-a-week-without-Seth/Ryan-time business, okay?"

"Got it."

"But before I go… Summer's going to be expecting an update on Flapjacks. Is it all good news to report?"

"Flapjacks is awesome. He's adjusting to the college life well. I've had to talk him out of a few benders over on The Row, but other than that he's good. I'm sure he misses Summer, though."

"She'll be happy to hear that."

"Tell her I said hi too, okay. And that I hope G.E.O.R.G.E. is going good."

"Will do. She'll be happy to hear from you. And tell Taylor that I said hey next time you talk to her. Also tell her I've been keeping up on that blog of hers."

"Oh yeah? And… ?"

"Disturbing yet intriguing. You've got yourself an interesting woman there, Ryan Atwood."

"Yeah," he could do nothing more than agree.

"So… I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah."

"See ya, Ryan."

"Bye, Seth."

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